Wednesday, June 5, 2013

June 5, 1963 - JFK visits the Air Force Academy

Whenever
I come home to visit, I always have to laugh at the blatant political
leanings up and down Interstate 25. When you go across the Colorado
border, you're on John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway. However it becomes
quickly evident that you are soon in the conservative bastion of the
state, once you leave the Democratic-friendly Pueblo County, and enter
into El Paso County, and Colorado Springs, where the road instantly
becomes Ronald Reagan Highway. Once you are out of El Paso County? It
reverts back to John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.

That's
why I thought it was humorous to find out that, way back when, the U.S.
Air Force Academy asked President John F. Kennedy to be its first
presidential commencement speaker, on June 5, 1963 (the previous year,
Vice President Lyndon Johnson gave the commencement speech).

Politics
aside, the President arriving in Colorado Springs was a huge deal. He
spoke at 9:45 a.m. in a packed Falcon Stadium and was awarded an honorary bachelor of science degree. Afterward, he went on to visit NORAD, before flying to the White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.

To
commemorate the Colorado visit, the Air Force Academy released a vinyl
single souvenir - on standard black vinyl (and blue label), and on
yellow vinyl (with a blue label). The label notes "A Reed Record," but
the flip indicates it was from "J.B.B. Enterprises," out of Hollywood.
My copy didn't come with a picture sleeve. Would be cool to know if it
came with one.